Tools and Information

Acquisition of Israeli Nationality

1/1/2010

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Israel's Nationality Law relates to persons born in Israel or
resident
therein, as well as to those wishing to settle in the country,
regardless
of race, religion, creed, sex or political belief. Citizenship
may
be
acquired by:

Birth

The Law of Return

Residence

Naturalization

Acquisition of nationality by birth is granted
to:

Persons who were born in Israel to a mother or a father who
are
Israeli citizens.

Persons born outside Israel, if their father or mother holds
Israeli
citizenship, acquired either by birth in Israel, according to the
Law of
Return, by residence, or by naturalization.

Persons born after the death of one of their parents, if the
late
parent was an Israeli citizen by virtue of the conditions
enumerated
in
1. and 2. above at the time of death.

Persons born in Israel, who have never had any nationality
and
subject
to limitations specified in the law, if they:

apply for it in the period between their 18th and 25th
birthday
and

have been residents of Israel for five consecutive years,
immediately
preceding the day of the filing of their application.

Acquisition of Nationality according to the Law
of Return

On the establishment of the State, its founders proclaimed
"...the
renewal
of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel, which would open wide
the
gates
of the homeland to every Jew..." In pursuance of this tenet, the
State
of Israel has absorbed survivors of the Holocaust, refugees from
the
countries in which they had resided, as well as many thousands of
Jews
who came to settle in Israel of their own volition.

The Law of Return (1950) grants every Jew, wherever he may be,
the
right
to come to Israel as an oleh (a Jew immigrating to
Israel)
and become an Israeli citizen.

For the purposes of this Law, "Jew" means a person who was born
of
a
Jewish mother, or has converted to Judaism and is not a member of
another
religion.

Israeli citizenship becomes effective on the day of arrival in
the
country
or of receipt of an oleh's certificate, whichever is
later.
A person may declare, within three months, that he/she does not
wish
to
become a citizen.

An oleh's certificate may be denied to
persons
who:

engage in activity directed against the Jewish people;

may endanger public health or the security of the state;

have a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare.

Since 1970, the right to immigrate under this law has been
extended
to
include the child and the grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a
child
of
a Jew and the spouse of the grandchild of a Jew. The purpose of
this
amendment is to ensure the unity of families, where intermarriage
had
occurred; it does not apply to persons who had been Jews and had
voluntarily changed their religion.

Acquisition of Nationality by Residence

Special provision is made in the Nationality Law for former
citizens
of
British Mandatory Palestine. Those who remained in Israel from
the
establishment of the State in 1948 until the enactment of the
Nationality Law of 1952, became Israeli citizens by
residence or by return.

According to an amendment (1980), further possibilities to
acquire
citizenship by residence, were included in the law.

Acquisition of Nationality by
Naturalization

Adults may acquire Israeli citizenship by naturalization at the
discretion of the Minister of the Interior and subject to a
number
of
requirements, such as:

they must have resided in Israel for three years out of the
five
years
preceding the day of submission of the application.

they are entitled to reside in Israel permanently and have
settled or
intend to settle in Israel;

they have renounced their prior nationality, or have proved
that
they
will cease to be foreign nationals upon becoming Israeli
citizens.

The Minister of the Interior may exempt an applicant from some of
these
requirements.